Wednesday, November 27, 2013

In Search Of Blind Joe Death: The Saga Of John Fahey DVD Review

In Search Of Blind Joe Death: The Saga Of John Fahey is a
documentary film about the excellent guitarist who has influenced many
musicians over the years. The film features several interviews with musicians
and musicologists, as well as old footage of John Fahey himself.

In Search Of Blind Joe Death opens with images of railroad tracks
and the sweet sound of an acoustic guitar. Pete Townshend (one of the musicians
interviewed) then says, “He seemed to me
the kind of folk guitar-playing equivalent to sort of William Burroughs or
Bukowski, Charles Bukowski.” That’s quite a statement, and one that
immediately got me interested. I didn’t know a lot about John Fahey before
watching this documentary, but now I want to go out and purchase a good deal of
his output. (I’m also kicking myself for not seeing him when I was living in
Oregon.)

There is some great old
footage of John Fahey being interviewed on a television program. And then he
plays an excellent instrumental tune, the camera focusing on the guitar itself.
In another, later interview he talks about how he put his name on one side of
his record, and the name Blind Joe Death on the other. “I thought it would be a good joke,” playing on the fact that a lot
of the old blues performers had “Blind” as part of their name. In another
interview excerpt, Fahey touches on some more serious subjects, including
sexual abuse as a child: “You’re scared
of your family, and that transmits into being afraid of everybody, really.”

Nanci McLean Sunicwick,
who dated him in high school, gives some background on his youth. She also
says, “John was an outlaw from start to
finish. A very gentlemanly outlaw, but outside the strictures of his background.”

Barry Hansen (better
known as Dr. Demento) was also a friend of his, and talks about how John was
influenced by certain classical composers, particularly Bartok. He also talks
about the influence of Charley Patton. One thing I found particularly
fascinating was that Barry and John would go door-to-door in black
neighborhoods asking if they had any old phonograph records for sale. John then
went in search of those musicians, folks like Booker White and Skip James.

Stefan Grossman has some
great anecdotes as well, including the time he first met John Fahey. We are
then treated to old footage of John on stage talking about Stefan Grossman: “I hate his guts. I also hate his
guitar-playing.” John, as a bit of a prank, even composed and recorded a
song titled “The Assassination Of Stefan Grossman,” leading Stefan to return
the favor with “The Assassination Of John Fahey” (the DVD’s bonus features
include a performance of that song).

There are interviews with
Pete Townshend (who talks about the letter John sent him regarding Tommy), Chris Funk (of the Decemberists),
Joey Burns, Terry Robb, John Monday, Dean Blackwood and Melody Fahey (former
wife), among others.

There are also some
gorgeous shots of nature, specifically rivers, trees and turtles. And there are
a few interesting animated sequences. And of course there is plenty of music.

Bonus Features

The DVD contains more
than an hour and a half of bonus material.There are four interviews, including a 31-minute interview with Pete
Townshend. He talks about how he considers himself a rhythm player, and says: “In The Who, our drummer, Keith Moon, is
regarded as an extraordinarily eccentric and inventive guy, but one thing he
could not do was keep time. So I did it.” There is an interview with Chris
Funk, who talks about moving to Eugene, Oregon and meeting John Fahey and doing
sound for him at Sam Bond’s Garage. The anecdote about John Fahey tuning to the
juicer is great. Dean Blackwood tells an interesting story about the 78s. And
Joe Bussard plays a record on an old Edison machine, and shows how it works.

The bonus features also
include several performances. The first is John Fahey performing two songs at
an unspecified location on an unspecified date. The other performances were
recorded as part of the interviews for this documentary. Chris Funk plays
Fahey’s “The Death Of The Clayton Peacock” and “Poor Boy.” Joe Bussard plays an
instrumental tune, plus a Booker White song and a little of “Sittin’ On Top Of
The World.” Stefan Grossman performs his song, “The Assassination Of John
Fahey.” Jimmy Crosthwait performs “A Tribute To John Fahey.” George Winston
talks about Fahey’s “Steamboat Gwine Round Da Bend,” then performs it on
harmonica, then on piano. Terry Robb plays Fahey’s “When Springtime Comes
Again” on one of John Fahey’s guitars. And Tim Knight plays a bit of his own
“Peace For Eden Davis.” Pete Townshend was asked near the end of his interview
to play something of Fahey’s, but he politely declined.

Also included in the
bonus material are several audio excerpts from John Fahey interviews conducted
by Ayal Senior in 1999. In one of those excerpts he talks about collecting
records.

In Search Of Blind Joe Death: The Sage Of John Fahey was directed
by James Cullingham, and was released on DVD on November 12, 2013 through First
Run Features.

About Me

My friend Jason and I have started a greeting card company called Grandmother's Fanny Game Greeting Cards. Cards are certain to amuse and offend. We're shooting a series of short films that tie in with the cards. Several of them are up on You Tube, and also on the Grandmother's Fanny Game blog (you can also see photos of the cards on the blog). What else? I am fascinated by the Marquis De Sade and Elizabeth Bathory. I often make decisions based on the humor factor.
I created an index, with a list of all of my blog entries, including Shakespeare entries and music reviews, arranged alphabetically by subject. Here is the link: http://michaeldohertyindex.blogspot.com/